PSG want Premier League star to replace Neymar, why they must avoid the deal

Bengaluru, Aug 26: French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain are plotting a shock £100million bid for Wilfried Zaha as a replacement for Neymar as per reports in France. The French giants are currently holding out for the right price before allowing their Brazilian superstar to return to Spain with Barcelona and Real Madrid both fighting it out for his services.

Thomas Tuchel's side, however, knows that it will be difficult to retain the services of the most expensive footballer in the world whom they acquired by breaking the bank just couple of seasons ago.

However, is Wilfred Zaha the answer? Does the Ivorian have what it takes to fill the void left by one of the best footballers in the world? Well, our answer would be a big no.

Getting Zaha as the replacement of Neymar would be a huge step backward for the ambitious cash-rich club who are looking to make their way into the list of European elites for quite some time now.

Don't get us wrong. Zaha is an immensely talented player but neither does he deserve to be a £100million player nor he is capable of replacing someone like Neymar who is a generational talent.

Zaha made no secret his desire to move to a bigger club having put in a transfer request before the window shut in England earlier this month. The 26-year-old saw potential moves to Arsenal and Everton fall down after Palace rejected a series of bids, demanding up to £100m for the 26-year-old.

Zaha is a good player but in terms of output, he is nowhere close to Neymar. Over the years, Zaha has scored 32 times and made 34 assists in the Premier League in 180 games.

Neymar, on the other hand, has 51 goals and 28 assists to his name at PSG in just 58 games. It is a factor that Zaha plays for a much inferior side like Crystal Palace but Zaha is not the player to be Neymar's successor by any means.

Zaha's decision making in the final third and finishing is quite average. Dribbling past defenders in the area where he excels but Neymar is something else and belongs to that elite bracket.

Letting Neymar go is kind of a hard decision PSG might have to make due to his antics. The Brazilian superstar is no more a darling of the fans and his heart looks set for a return to Spain and likely to Barcelona.

To be fair, there are very few players better than Neymar right now and none of them are realistic targets of the French champions. But, they should still go for someone elite like Paulo Dybala or James Rodriguez or someone young and promising like Kai Havertz. Signing Zaha would not be the kind of statement they want to make.